Daily Times

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka unveiled the world’s largest blue sapphire named ‘Queen of Asia’, weighing around 310-kilogram.

It had been found from a gem pit in Sri Lanka’s Ratnapura situated around 85-km away from Colombo. However, it was brought to the public view for the first time on Sunday at the residence of the gem pit owner.

The state-run institute, National Gem and Jewellery Authority certified the valuable gemstone (1.550,000 carats) and started planning to sell it at the highest price in the international market in context of the current economic situation of the country.

The National Gem and Jewellery Authority Chairman Thilak Weerasinghe said that the gemstone will go through more tests as there could be more clean stones inside it. The chairman added that there are already one or two clean stones that could be seen from outside.

However, international gem organisations are yet to certify the precious stone.

A gem expert Chamila Suranga said that the speciality of ‘Queen of Asia’ is that it is made of titanium, iron, aluminum oxide and nickel.

Earlier in July, the world’s largest star sapphire cluster named ‘Serendipity Sapphire’, weighing around 510-kg carats, had also been found accidentally while digging a water well in Ratnapura.